Press releases

29 August 2001

BioMed Central announces first wave of journals in a new publishing initiative

Today BioMed Central announces the first group of research journals to be launched in a new publishing initiative. This initiative is designed to allow groups of researchers to publish online journals representing their community and to offer free access to the research articles within these new journals. The journals will use BioMed Central's established publishing infrastructure, comprising an online submission system, electronic tools for peer-review, and the ability to publish accepted articles in both PDF and HTML formats.

The peer-reviewed research articles in these journals will be indexed in the National Library of Medicine's bibliographic database, PubMed (widely used by researchers, clinicians and the general public) and deposited without delay in PubMed Central, the electronic repository of complete publications.

The first 12 journals to be published cover a wide range of research areas in biology and medicine - Cancer Cell International, Cardiovascular Diabetology, Annals of General Hospital Psychiatry, Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease, Microbial Cell Factories, Natural Negatives, The Malaria Journal, Filarial Infections - Diseases and their Control, The Nutrition Journal, Proteome Science, International Journal of Equity in Health, Directed Evolution.

Harvey Shoolman, Commissioning Director says,

"This is an exciting development in scientific journal publishing. These 12 journals are the first of many that we will be launching in response to the enthusiastic demand for this service. Essentially we are trying to empower focussed research groups wherever they may be. We want to respond to their needs and encourage them to advance their field and publish their results within a framework that nourishes and incubates the journal without being constrained by the conventional publisher's concern for subscription revenues."

Denys Wheatley, editor on Cancer Cell International, one of the 12 new journals to be published by BioMed Central, states the advantages he sees in publishing with BioMed Central,

"Some of the more obvious benefits are: papers can be published as they arise, peer reviewing will be done electronically speeding up this practice, the time from submission to on-line publication can be less than 50 days, images will be publishable at no cost at the resolution required and the problem of reprints and their cost will not arise... What more can you expect or want?"

BioMed Central, which already publishers over 60 journals in Biology and Medicine, expects over a hundred new journals to be added over the coming months. All original research articles published by BioMed Central are freely accessible without restriction.

For further information on these new journals visit:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/newjournals.asp
For further information on journal publishing with BioMed Central visit:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/startyourown.asp

BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based content.